Third party disputing liability car accident

[Leecant]

I was driving down a basic single lane road with traffic traveling in both directions on each side of the road with a standard White dashed dividing line.

 

I was following another car in front of me who slowed down and pulled up on the left, as he slowed down so did I to 20mph to work out his intention after making the judgement that he was pulling over to stop I checked the other side of the road which was completely clear I then pulled my car out to straddle the White line to give ample room for the car that has just pulled over on the left side of the road near the curb, on me pulling out the third party swung his car out infront of mine as if he was going to do a U turn and got about 70 degrease turn I saw him do this and swerved to avoid him randomly pulling out but couldn't manage to miss him with him giving no indication of his intentions and with a split second of me passing.

 

His car sustained a small scratch yet I got pushed off the road and up a curb smashing 3 of my alloys killing 2 tires and knocking my alignment out as well as ruining my bumper and wing.

 

After I managed to avoid hitting parked cars after being shoved off the road I came to a stop and remaining in a completely shocked position he come over to me with a pen and paper and told me to admit fault I did not agree or sign nor did I get out the car as my wrist was killing and I was starting to go into shock with my breathing going very shallow. (due to him intimidating me) there was a huge crowd that started to appear that didn't help (all of which were Asian same as the driver) and were saying things at me in a language I didn't understand and nasty things in English with me being White.

 

I stayed in the car until the police arrived due to shock and fear for my safety, on arrival of the police the officer said if you wasnt doing anything wrong you have nothing to worry about because it's all on CCTV, so I felt quite a lot happier knowing this as I'm 110% confident it was his fault.

 

After alerting my insurance, giving them massively detailed drawings of the incident (graphic designer) and areal photography of the exact location it happened along with corresponding photos of the damage to my car and giving the insurance direct details to the station that had the CCTV I'm still waiting for a resolved to my case (5months today), my insurance sent out an engineer that said my car is repairable and a month later sent out a private investigator to interview me! Which was a horrible experience treat me like a murder suspect!!

 

The third party is disputing liability, I'm petrified it will end up going to cort because stuff like this dosnt happen in my life and I'm completely not used to it, I feel like telling my insurance not to bother because iv already fixed my car myself even though I am fully comp I'll be paying more in insurance premiums if I lose my NCB than I have paid to fix my car where do I stand? My insurance has since passed all the case and it's details over to their solicitor company... ???

[rebel11]

Hi Lee

 

With CCTV you would think this would be straight forward, 'Private Investigators' never heard the like. Your insurance company should have a target date to resolve

claims. I would send a letter of complaint to them, send it recorded. Explain all the circumstances. Once you get a reply, let us know what they say. I see no reason

why it should go to court. Have you seen the CCTV footage? You might be able to gain access to it.

[unclebulgaria67]

Just let your Insurance company deal with it and help them when required. They will have employed private investigators to look at the whole claim incident. It is possible that the 3rd party planned the accident and is trying to make a dodgy claim. There was a recent case in the Manchester area, where people were involved in the staging of accidents to fraudulently make claims.

 

Be warned that this could drag on for sometime. It is possible that the 3rd party has submitted a claim against your policy, so you should ask them whether this is the case.

[Mwynci]

Just as UB said, just let your insurers do the work. This has a lot of markings of a semi staged accident. The postitive is your insurer are doing what you pay them for.

[rebel11]

Hi Lee

 

Uncle and Mwy might be right, they might of set up the 'accident', they might be investigating, but your treatment is of some concern.

[Mwynci]

The appointment of a PI or an enquiry agent (the nicer term) is normal practice if there is a dispute over injury, I'd be concerned if there wasn't. If suspected fraud from the tp, all avenues need to be covered, you cannot wait for the questions to be asked, to combat fraud, speed is everything. Gather al the info whilst it's fresh.

I'd imagine the OP had a PI without much personality, they should have taken the time to explain why they were there.

[rebel11]

'Speed is everything', 5 months on Lee is none the wiser, the insurance hasn't paid out his claim. He's paid for it himself. Say he didn't have the money, his car would still be sitting there, parked in his drive. From the sound of things the other party was out of his car PDQ, so can't see how he was injured. Lets wait and see.

 

The appointment of a PI or an enquiry agent (the nicer term) is normal practice if there is a dispute over injury, I'd be concerned if there wasn't. If suspected fraud from the tp, all avenues need to be covered, you cannot wait for the questions to be asked, to combat fraud, speed is everything. Gather al the info whilst it's fresh.

I'd imagine the OP had a PI without much personality, they should have taken the time to explain why they were there.

[Leecant]

Thanks kindly for all your information and concern.

 

Currently in one night i have received more ideas of what could be going off than my insurance have let on, i have to play stupid every time i call up to the guys on the phone for them to accidentally tell me stuff that they would otherwise hold back...

 

Iv been given a direct dial to the two people running the team at the claims handlers and they are wittier than the normal call receivers (that's no disrespect to them just an observation) so i find i cant get anything out of the head handlers.

 

All im aware of at this moment is that they have passed the work onto their solicitor department? - and that im just waiting.

 

The guy who pulled out on me, got out and started shouting at me, then bent down and leant in through my open window while i was still in my car with my wrist in great pain, he said "sign this, you know it was your fault" a few times i just shook my head and stayed put, then another gent (who wasn't in the other car) and came from no ware started telling me to put my name and address down, again my wrist was painful so i shook my head (not to mention i didn't trust this random bloke who was nothing to do with the incident) so i just sat there and waiting for the police to arrive, the officer after the incident and my hospital visit called me and stated she had seen the CCTV from both angles at either end of the street and it looked very much like the other driver was at fault. so i was elated to find that out and jumped onto my insurance and informed them as soon as i was called from the officer.

 

I tried requesting the CCTV from the police directly and through their different departments but they refused me access to it and said i "have to call my insurance, they normally deal with that sort of thing, and that's what you pay them for" although i did try a bit of idiot "but i thought the data protection act 1997/8 stated that i could request any footage of myself that is recorded as long as none else is recognisable"

 

Another note to remember is that after the driver of the other car was shouting and balling walking about on his mobile waving his arms around and strutting back and forward in front of my car, on hearing the sirens from the police and ambulance he was strangely in loads of pain and couldn't move much, they took him off in a stretcher and i got out my own car and walked in quite a lot of pain to the small paramedic car (the driver of the paramedic car stated to me, although he most probably shouldn't have said anything as an independent part in the whole thing: "when you are involved in an incident with Asian men we always advise the drivers to lock their doors and stay put till the police arrive because they are very aggressive towards others" and he also stated "looking at the damage and area of the two cars that were hit and the low speed incident it was massively unlikely he would have sustained any injuries from the ricochet angle that we just clipped each other"

 

I was is far more pain with my lower + middle back and wrist than him as i had mounted the curb and travelled along the walk way for a car length before throwing my car back onto the road for fear of hitting any pedestrians on the walk way.

 

I was shocked that my insurance still state they "have not received to their knowledge the footage that im speaking of" i feel like asking the officer at the scene directly through her police station can i please take a copy off your cd (she had one with her when she came to take my statement although only for her records) i know there is a fat chance that she would let me if she was even still in possession of the cd - at least i could make a copy and send it to my insurance and they would have no excuse i feel like they aren't that bothered, i know the claims handler said they would try to get the other party to admit it was his fault before spending money getting CCTV - im just worried its going to have been deleted before they requested it if it hasn't already

Edited October 1, 2010 by Leecant

[unclebulgaria67]

If this accident was a [problem] i.e. a staged accident, with the aim of defrauding Insurers, any evidence that the Police have e.g. CCTV coverage, cannot be released. By releasing the coverage the Police could potentially damage any chance of them gaining a prosecution.

 

Your Insurance company may know that there is an ongoing Police enquiry into this and they will have been told that they cannot advise you of this. If you ask the Police, they won't comment on any ongoing enquiries.

 

If I were you, I would stay patient for the minute and hope that action is taken against the 3rd party driver in due course or the Insurers decide what they are going to do.

[Leecant]

I hope so, i just feel lost and the insurance dont or cant tell you anything, just a little disheartening thats all, you feel like the one time the insurance should jump up and down and help they "appear" to be sat doing nothing...

 

I can see where your coming from if they are wanting to build up something against him, one of the normal phone answers said by accident that they may have suspicions about the bloke and thats why they are taking so long, there were some "flags that popped up on his policy" or something huh?

 

Im a little concerned regarding my car as the front disc has warped and i could realy do with buying some more discs for the front to solve the steering wheel wobble but obviously im dubious about fitting new discs incase they take all my 3yr ncb away and make my pride and joy too expensive to own

[Mwynci]

I know this is an old post (great attention to detail Mr Solicitor).

What a load of tosh, liability is not rocket science.

[honeybee13]

Mr Solicitor seems to have disappeared, Mwynci. Could it be to do with advertising?

 

My best, HB

[Mwynci]

awww, I was looking forward to a bit of solicitor baiting.

Clearly someone beat me to it and reported them.

 

regards

[Leecant]

Mr Solicitor seems to have disappeared, Mwynci. Could it be to do with advertising?

 

My best, HB

 

This is currently still ongoing, the 3rd party's insurer has the CCTV however I have no confirmation as to wether my insurer has or not, the claim has been passed onto a solicitor by my insurance 9months and counting...

[Mwynci]

The 3rd party will have to disclose it if it gets to court, if it will ever get that far.

Probably with the insurer's solicitors to maintain the defence/be ready for any action the third party takes. Good to see their taking it seriously.

 

Thanks for the update.